


Catmint and Roses

by Cân Cennau (cancennau)



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Balcony Scene, Bees, Cats, Characters of Colour, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Flowers, Fluff, Gardens & Gardening, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 08:24:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8049211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cancennau/pseuds/C%C3%A2n%20Cennau
Summary: An early morning interlude on a balcony. Human AU.





	Catmint and Roses

Kelas had many funny little rituals they liked to complete in a day - always eating an apple in the morning, walking by the pier on their way to work instead of the shorter intercity route, putting on socks and shoes before trousers or leggings. Once they had been embarrassed by their need for certain rituals, but in his older years they’d come to embrace them, even like some of them. Elim helped, of course - he allowed Kelas their eccentricities without complaint, and made a point of helping them complete them wherever possible.

One of Kelas’ habits included waking up early to watch dawn break. Elim didn’t normally join them for this expedition - he claimed he needed to keep the bed warm for when Kelas would inevitably climb in post-dawn. They didn’t know why they needed it, but they knew perfectly well that sleeping through dawn tended to make them sluggish and off-kilter for the rest of the day. And since taking an interest in amateur beekeeping, Kelas had extra reason to be up that early - to check on their bees.

The terracotta-coloured hives were attached vertically to the wall, with each tunnel entrance facing opposing ends of the balcony. At the top of each red hive were the names of the colony - _Y Cwch_ on the left, and _Kenedw_ on the right, the latter written in the original Farsi. The long tubes were split down the middle by a glass panel, which allowed Kelas to check the insides for disease and to just generally watch the industrious insects work undisturbed. They looked healthy and happy, at least to Kelas’ amateur beekeeping eyes, and with a decisive nod, Kelas straightened up and turned towards the rest of the balcony.

The rest of the enclave was a garden - whilst the bees were Kelas’ responsibility, the garden was Elim’s, which was just as well since Kelas tended to have more luck with animate beings rather than inanimate ones. Lavender and lemon balm sat in planters nearest the door, whilst rosemary and thyme sat in the corners. Various different fruit and vegetable plants lined the edges - tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, chillies and many others grew up the low walls, a few of the plants even growing up the protective netting that surrounded the balcony, which was designed to keep their cat in and allow the bees out. A mixture of chamomile and catmint sat at the far end, protected by a wire box, on top of which slept a large brown-black cat.

Kelas stretched their arms above their heads, before walking to the edge of the balcony and lowering their arms to prop themselves on the balcony wall, peering through the protective balcony net. The low buzz of their bees intermingled with the early morning sounds of Lakat, their Kardasi hometown. The traffic rattled and rumbled across the baked clay roads, far below the balcony where Kelas was enclosed, waking up the area with the low drone of city people. Kelas took a deep breath in, smelling the mixture of different sweet floral scents, and smiled.

“Kelas?”

Kelas turned, and started a little - Elim stood in the doorway, two mugs of steaming coffee in his hands. Well, one cup of coffee - Elim refused to call Kelas’ usual half-soya-milk half-coffee too-much-date-syrup concoction anything other than a monstrosity. Elim weaved his way through the pots and planters to reach Kelas, setting the cups on the low wall and greeting his partner with a soft kiss.

“Good morning.” Elim rumbled, voice still gravelly from sleep. “Seen anything interesting today?”

“Only the sight of you out of bed before eight.” Kelas ribbed with a smile. “Any special occasion?”

“Only the desire to see you.”

“How _romantic_.”

“I thought so myself.” Elim wrapped his arms around Kelas’ broadish waist, his own potbelly fitting perfectly into the curvature of Kelas’ spine. The tawny Mediterranean complexion on his arms became a nice contrast with Kelas’ hickory hands which rested on them a moment later. Kelas felt Elim nudge their kinky, coily hair to the side with their nose, before settling his chin on their shoulder with a pleased huff.

“Comfortable?” Kelas murmured, turning their head a little to nuzzle at Elim’s face.

“Very.” Elim allowed the nuzzle for a few moments, before pulling away slightly and turning to look out over the cityscape. “How are your bees?”

“They’re very well, thank you. The colony in _Y Cwch_ will probably swarm soon - think we’ve got space for another hive?”

“Where would you put them?”

“I was thinking getting two of those hanging ones - could hang them from upstairs’ balcony.”

“And you think upstairs will be fine with that?”

“I think so - it was downstairs that was complaining about the amount of bees.” Kelas took a sip of their drink, savouring the sweet, rich flavour. “I reckon he’s still annoyed we wouldn't give him any honey from the hives.”

“I’m guessing he still doesn't understand that we don't use the honey from our hives?”

“The idea that we shouldn’t steal honey from the bees is a completely foreign concept to him. We’re both still ‘the weird vegan hippies who like to terrorize him’, I think.”

“A pity.”

“Upstairs is more interested in the bees, though. I was talking to both of them the other day - they were interested in starting their own hive.”

“Perhaps instead of getting another hive, you could sell the swarm to upstairs then? We don’t want to have too many bees.”

“This is coming from the man who complains about having too many plants, then buys more.”

“I do not.”

“I’m sorry, how many orchids do we have in the bathroom right now? Ten? Twelve?”

“It’s a sensible amount.”

“You'd put orchids in the shower rack if I didn't use the shower so often.”

Elim playfully gave a light nipping kiss to their neck. “Hush. They lighten the place up, and you like them. Now, back to the bees…”

Kelas shook their head, but let the topic slide. “Ah, yes… Well, I could certainly sell them the swarm. I have a few days off in Friday, so I could help them set up… Do we still have that spare wall hive, or did I sell it?”

“It’s currently holding those cinnamon sticks you had from Elenor.”

“Well, those can find a new home. The hive can go to upstairs and… yes, that should do nicely.” They put their cup down with a satisfied clink. “I’ll run upstairs now and ask - I’m certain they’ll be more than happy to have them-”

They turned away from the cityscape towards the door, their mind already racing towards logistics and scripts about selling bees. However, they found themselves face to face with Elim, wearing a wry smile, who had his arms either side of Kelas’ body, effectively pinning him to the balcony wall. Kelas squirmed a little, before resting his hands on Elim’s forearms and pushing ineffectively at them.

“Elim.” Kelas frowned when Elim refused to budge.

“Kelas.” Elim’s voice was deceptively sunny. “Would you care to look at the sun?”

“I can watch the sun in a minute, I have places to _be_ -”

“Well, if you looked at the sun, you’d see it hasn’t yet risen.”

“I _know_ , and I won't miss dawn if I run up now-”

Elim gave them the fondest of eyerolls. “That means upstairs are probably asleep right now.”

“...Oh. Right.” Kelas sagged against the wall, abashed. “Sorry. My, uh… my enthusiasm got away from me a little bit.”

“It’s quite alright.” Elim pressed a kiss to their forehead in forgiveness. “I do love your enthusiasm. And I’m certain upstairs will love it too - though perhaps not at the break of dawn.”

“Right.” Kelas’ thumbs rubbed apologetic circles into Elim’s forearms, whilst his face was still flushed red from embarrassment. “Oh, speaking of neighbours…”

“Hmm?”

“Our Alphatic neighbour, Molly - she asks if she could borrow your shears cut some roses off her rosebush.”

“Of course. I’m guessing something happened to her old pair?”

“Left them at her partner’s place. Miral’s place - you know, the university’s head of security, over in Culat. She’s going over there to pick them up today, but wanted to bring roses.”

“I remember. Roses are Miral’s favourite, didn’t she say?”

“That’s right - something about being beautiful and violent all at the same time.” Kelas shook their head. “I’ll never understand her mindset.”

Elim laughed. “I’ll speak to her in my lunch break. I’ll even offer to cut them myself.”

“Out of the goodness of your own heart?”

“Why would I have any ulterior motive?”

“The opportunity to fuss over a certain ginger cat with a ridiculous name is not an ulterior motive?” Elim liked to play the tough, unaffected ambassador to the Alpha Federation, but everyone and their mother knew his soft spot for anything that remotely resembled a cat. And Elim knew that too, given the smile that tugged at his lips.

“Now Kelas,” Elim mock-lectured. “Emilick Mousington the Third is a perfectly respectable name for a cat-”

“Emilick Mousington, _honestly_ -”

“Emilick Mousington _the Third,_ the last part is very important-”

“Is it really?”

“Yes, it differentiates him from the past two Emilick Mousington’s that came before him.”

Unable to hold back a wide grin, Kelas laughed and looked across at their own cat, who was blinking at them in the morning light. “I’m glad that I convinced you out of your more ridiculous name ideas for our cat.”

“I don’t know what you mean. I still think Shakespurr and Oedi-puss are suitable cat names.”

“Suitably ridiculous.”

“I’m sorry, what did you want to call our cat? From you we had _pishi, kike, cath_...”

“Good names for a cat!”

“They all mean ‘cat’ in another language.”

“Perfect if she gets lost, everyone will know what we’re looking for.”

“Really...” Now reassured that Kelas was not going to disturb the neighbours at this early hour, Elim dropped his arms and wandered over to the cat. The cat automatically rolled onto her back with a purr, knowing full well that Elim would be fussing over her as soon as he settled next to the protective cage she lay on.

“I honestly can’t believe we managed to agree on a name for her.” Kelas smiled, watching as Elim petted the cat with undisguised glee. “You were quite set on Meowya Angelou for some time.”

“I think seeing her namesake’s face when we told him the name was well worth it.” Elim replied happily, tickling the cat’s chin. “Isn’t that right, Julian?”

Julian the cat mrrphed in response, and butted Elim’s hand for more head pats. Kelas could feel the warm glow from seeing their partner so unguarded and gentle around them - honestly, Kelas could never get enough of this affectionate side to their partner. Still smiling, Kelas turned back around to the cityscape and watched dawn breaking, painting the sky with the colour of roses.

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to [Sylver](http://thesylverlining.tumblr.com) for giving me the idea of Kelas Parmak with bee friends! 
> 
> Most adaptions of Elim as human have him as the Whitest White who has ever Whited (or occasionally as a stouter version of [Dean McCoppin](http://s43.photobucket.com/user/Moththemotti/media/Iron1-1.png.html)) but I remembered from the short story _The Calling_ that Elim was recreated as a human "native to the Medeterranian basin" who had "family from both French Europe and Arabic Africa", so I based his looks off of that. Also I believe this is the first human adaption of Kelas, so I had a lot more room to play around with their looks.


End file.
